The Lost Brothers have waited a long time to tour following the release of their well-received album ‘After the Fire After the Rain’. To celebrate, the Irish duo have released a new video for their third single, ‘After the Rain’. The video was created by Liverpool film-maker Gavin Wood from footage of the natural world merged with dancers. Wood says of the video: “There were a few obstacles when I was creating this video. With lockdowns and restrictions changing all the time. I decided to try and find landscapes and worlds in the microscopic. By filming as closely as I could in my back yard. Things started to look like scenes from another planet. So I decided to take it a step further and went with the theme of ‘hallucinations of a dancing alien- with bubbles for a head’.” It sounds like an exploration of the imagination and the result is as dreamily absorbing as the song itself.
After forming in in Liverpool in 2008, The Lost Brothers have released six acclaimed albums and worked or shared a stage with a host of great artists, including Billy Bragg, Elvis Costello, Martha Wainwright and Bill Ryder-Jones. Oisin Leech and Mark McCausland, the songwriting pair behind The Lost Brothers, are joined by more notable guests on ‘After the Rain’: M Ward on guitar, Tony Garnier on bass and Howe Gelb. Collectively, they give the song an incredible depth and texture. It swells and grows, rising and becoming something like a spiritual anthem, particularly with the layered instrumentation and chanted repetition towards the close of the song. From the opening line: “I woke up singing a song called ‘After the Rain’,” it feels like we are on an ethereal journey with the band and each step along the way is melodious and beautiful.
The band say of the song: “Musically the single ‘After The Rain’ is inspired by Billie Holliday, Rory Gallagher and The Beta Band. The lyrics were inspired by a photo entitled ‘After The Rain’ by photographer Michael Gannon, which the band saw in Sligo near Strand Hill in an airport market a few years back. It’s not often we write about the craft of songwriting. But in this instance that’s how it turned out. This song is a travelogue and tries to express the process a songwriter can go through sometimes. We tried to leave as much space as we could between the notes so as to capture a certain feeling. There’s always doubt and vulnerability when recording a new tune and this take was the band learning the song in the studio while the tape was rolling. We used the rehearsal in the end.”
After selling out the Purcell Rooms on London’s Southbank, it’s been an achingly long wait for more shows. The band say: “This is certainly the longest we’ve taken between singles but, strangely enough, these songs still feel new to us. We cannot wait to finally tour this release.” This is gorgeous stuff – check it out.
Check out The Lost Brothers on tour, including performances at London’s Union Chapel on 26th November and in Belfast on 3rd December. More details below:
